The King of Na gold seal () is a Chinese seal made of solid gold designated as a National Treasure of Japan, discovered in 1784 on Shikanoshima Island in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, southern Japan. The seal is believed to have been cast during Eastern Han dynasty and bestowed by Emperor Guangwu upon a diplomatic envoy visiting from the Yayoi Na state in the year 57 AD, as an official authentication of the state as a tributary state of China. The five Chinese characters appearing on the gold seal (in small seal script) read as "King of the Wa Na State, (vassal of the) Han".
The seal is currently in the collection of the Fukuoka City Museum in Fukuoka. It is the first known textual record of Japan as a country, and is included in Japanese history books as a cultural asset that indicates how Japan came into being as a political entity. It is also the earliest evidence of diplomatic contact in the history of ChinaâÂÂJapan relations.
The seal is composed of gold of 95% purity. It is made up of a square base, with the seal itself on the bottom face, and a handle on top of the base in the shape of a snake. It has a mass of . The total height from base to handle is . The base of the seal averages on a side. This dimension roughly corresponds to the traditional Chinese standard unit of length of one cun, as used in the Later Han dynasty (about ).
The five characters engraved on the seal are (in the order in which they are to be read):
The meanings of these characters (in the context of this seal) are: "Han" (referring to the Han dynasty of China), "Wa" (an ancient name for Japan), "Na" (an ancient kingdom / state within Japan), "state / country", and "ruler." Altogether, the meaning of the seal inscription is: "(seal of) the King of the Na state of the Wa [vassal?] of the Han dynasty".
The character 姠is a loan for å (Wa), an instance of the common practice of in Classical Chinese. The characters are engraved in the seal script style.
notes that the character for Han indicates that Na was an external subject state of Han.
The seal has been judged to be the one described in the Book of the Later Han, a Chinese chronicle of the history of the Eastern Han dynasty. According to the chronicle, the Chinese Emperor Guangwu conferred the seal on a diplomatic official visiting from Japan.
The following is the original Chinese text from the chronicle:
This passage can be translated into English as:
During the Han dynasty, similar seals were bestowed on other regional sovereigns, in an attempt by the dynasty to bring these sovereigns into the Han ruling order.
The seal was accompanied by a purple ribbon which usually indicates a Ranged Marquis.
After being lost for an undetermined period of time, the seal was reportedly rediscovered on February 23, 1784, on Shika Island in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. According to contemporary reports, the seal was discovered by a farmer named Jinbei while repairing an irrigation ditch. It was found surrounded by stones forming a box-like structure around it. The stone above the seal required two adults to lift. After the rediscovery, identified it, saving it from being melted down. The seal was kept by the Kuroda clan, rulers of the Fukuoka Domain, and eventually donated by the Kuroda family to the city of Fukuoka in 1978.
Ever since its discovery, there has persistently been theories doubting its authenticity. During the Edo period, Confucians like Kamei argued for its authenticity as part of their efforts to tie Japanese history to China, while Kokugaku scholars denied its authenticity for the opposite effect. While this debate died out during the Meiji period, strong doubts were again raised during the Second Sino-Japanese War, as scholars examined period seals finding them to differ critically. Post-war archeology has led to the discovery of multiple similar seals, including one possibly originating from the same workshop. Still, there have been doubts, including if the Han possessed the metallurgical capability needed to produce the seal. Writing in 2024, writes that comparison to other seals produced at the same time has led to its authenticity to be widely accepted.